September 2015 Newsletter

September 2015 Newsletter

A Note from Your President

I remember September. But I still need to be reminded.

At our August kickoff meeting with special guest Laurie Guest, CSPÂ (@LaurieGuest), she spoke about how viewing the annual NSA Convention as a restart point, where she takes the opportunity to take a fresh view on her business, skills, and goals. A chance for renewal.

We know the process of renewal and progress is valuable, as we aim to move forward into the unknown, learning and growing along the way. However, it’s not always easy.

From my childhood, I remember September as a time that included a bit of concern and trepidation. The new school year was beginning, and fleeting fears of the unknown (and of failure) would lead me to wonder if I would be able to handle the challenges ahead. “This is the year where I’m simply not able to handle the challenges. This is when it all falls apart.” Regardless of past fun, challenges, success, and learning, I couldn’t help but let a few gremlins of worry slip in and play around in my head.

Of course, the gremlins were wrong. Each year I would go to school, adapt to the scene, cope with the challenges, and figure out how to do what needed to be done. I learned more, succeeded more, and had more fun. It wasn’t always a cakewalk, but I handled it and grew every time. And the next break was even sweeter because of the journey and milestones. I didn’t fully understand it then, but I now know this regular process of renewal and progress was every bit as important as the summer relaxation itself. It was about growth and development.

In the business of being a small business, the months can begin to blur together in an ongoing flow of marketing, work, clients, and administration. Without a chosen cadence for work, relaxation, and renewal, we can begin to experience the effects of burnout. Left unchecked, burnout can negatively impact our attitude, stamina, resilience, satisfaction, habits, finances, as well as our overall physical and spiritual health. Serious stuff indeed.

For a variety of business and personal reasons, I needed to hear Laurie’s perspectives on viewing the annual NSA Convention as a chance to take a fresh look at herself and her business strategies. To me, it ties in perfectly with our themes of journey, goals, and progress.

So, let’s take it to heart. Whether you attended the 2015 National Convention in Washington D.C., or whether you plan to listen (as a current All-Access Pass holder) to the Convention recordings in our private website area, I invite you to take advantage of this timely opportunity to renew yourself and your business. And to make it Your Best Year Yet.

Mentors for 2015-16 Charbonneau Speakers Academy

Our Charbonneau Academy is already fully booked for the 2015-16 Year, and our Academy class of 24 individuals will be our largest EVER! This is exciting for the future of NSA North Texas, and we need your help to mentor those who have chosen to invest in themselves with us. If you are an NSA Professional Member, and willing to be a Mentor for one of our Academy participants this year, we would deeply appreciate having you involved in this key process.

From my personal experience as a mentor the past couple of years with talented speakers like John Hardison (@JWHardison) and Terry Sumerlin (@Barberosopher), I strongly believe you will enjoy the rewards of helping a new friend make the most of the Academy experience.

Our Next Seminar September 12, 2015

The amazingly musical Mike Rayburn will be the highlight of our September meeting.

At last summer’s National Speakers Association Convention, Mike shared an insight. “Coasting only works going downhill.”

Of course, everyone knows that. But most people don’t act like they know that to be true. If there’s an area of your life or work that could benefit from some CHANGE, you may be coasting…and Mike’s correct, the inevitable result of coasting is a downhill slide. His challenge to us is to write music we can’t play. Create a grand design that is way beyond our current capabilities. Then do whatever it takes to become a virtuoso and accomplish the dream.

Mike Rayburn

About the Speaker

“Become a Virtuoso…Get to Your Carnegie Hall” is the title Mike Rayburn chose for his message to North Texas on September 12th. In it Mike will use his amazing guitar work and hilarious comedy as a metaphor, to illustrate three tools designed to turn each of us into an innovator with the peak performance skills to transcend the status quo to stop managing change, and lead by creating change.

The measure of any speaker is the results they produce. Mike is consistentlycited as “the hit of the conference,” and “what we needed and didn’t even know it.” More importantly, businesses regularly attribute significant, sometimes exponential increases in sales, impact and morale to the application of Mike’s keynote tools and breakout session content.

Also, in the same way a great song gets stuck in your head, Mike’s “What if…?” message gets repeated over and over, imprinting his most powerful tool in our memories and affecting immediate results and permanent improvement.

Always on the cutting edge, international keynote speaker Mike Rayburn is a Certified Speaking Professional (CSP), Hall of Fame speaker (CPAE), two-time TEDx presenter, has performed more than 4,000 presentations and his comedy remains in heavy rotation on Sirius/XM radio. Mike has been featured in USA Today, Newsweek, Billboard, American Entertainment, Gig, and Successful Meetings magazines.

Three NSA-NT Members Become CSP’s

Candace Fitzpatrick, Gary Rifkin and Mike Dilbeck, North Texas Chapter members, joined the ranks of Certified Speaking Professionals at the summer conference in DC. The 2015 class of Certified Speaking Professionals brings the number of CSP’s active in the North Texas Chapter to 22. The CSP is the highest designation a speaker can actually earn. The designation is reserved for speakers who can demonstrate professional platform skills, business management skills, professional education and professional association.

Our New CSP’s: Gary Rifkin, Candace Fitzpatrick and Mike Dilbeck

If you would like to learn more about following the path to the CSP, talk to Tim Durkin. Tim is Vice-Chair of the NSA group responsible for managing the CSP program for the National Speakers Association.

you, the speaker -Â Anatomy of a win

by Dave Lieber, CSP

Nobody was more surprised than me to win the hallowed Jalapeno Socks Award for the most complete website.

Laurie Guest, CSP, our chapter’s August guest speaker, says she examined 93 websites owned by attendees at our meeting. She judged our sites in six categories [see sidebar at bottom to find out what they are] including findability, video and contact information. The winner gets the socks.

I’m wearing them.

Do I have the best website? On that day, under those circumstances with that judge, yes, I made it through the traps. What matters is this: is it the best website for me? And remember, what works for me may not work for someone else.

So don’t copy. Be original and true to yourself.

Having said that, I have to admit that I was inspired by several speaker sites. I borrowed ideas, style and tone from each of them. So I am proud to honor them here:

Each conveys the soul and personality of its author in a memorable way, but also is geared towards customers.

Step 1

Step One

I designed the latest version of DaveLieber.org website on white poster board, sticking paper notes across it with tape and paper clips. For something that aimed for a clean digital look, this project began in a messy heap on paper.

Looking at it again for this piece, I find key phrases that served as guideposts:

“Don’t create a website in your image,” Jon says. “Create one that the customer is looking for. If the website doesn’t make a person pick up the phone to call, fill out a form or buy something, then what truly is the website’s purpose? I honestly believe it is to stroke the website owner’s ego and sense of accomplishment.” That’s counterproductive.

Jon suggested I create a 2-minute sizzle reel for the top of the home page.

I remember jotting down his advice as he sat across from me at his neighborhood Starbucks, our regular meeting place for this project. These words became my project’s mantra.

“Give the audience an orgasm,” Jon said. “Give them an ah-ha moment. Make it like foreplay, enticing. Tease the person who hires you. Make it sexy. Give a call to action.”

Jon created a fresh blog for me and a store.

“Don’t forget content,” Jon says. “You blog. If you’re not blogging, then you need backlinks. You give the search engines what they are looking for: fresh, relevant content.”

Jalapeno Socks Award

I know. I really should give Jon one of the two Jalapeno socks.

Finished

Good luck with your website.

# # #
6 Traits of a Great Speaker Website
According to Laurie Guest, CSP:
– Find easily by speaker’s name
– Show clearly what speaker does
– Offer subscription sign-up
– Video sample only one click away from home page
– Show phone number for easy contact
– Offer a “Book Now” call-to-action button

@DaveLieber, CSP, has been writing a monthly column about all things NSA-North Texas. He’s The Watchdog investigative columnist for The Dallas Morning News. DaveLieber.org

AugustÂ Meeting Recap:Â “”I Want to See the Jalapeno Coming”Â 93 Hot Ways to Get Booked and Get PaidÂ withÂ Laurie Guest, CSP

by Stu Schlackman, CSP

Laurie Guest, CSP

Note: To register with Laurie and get her handouts go to www.kiwilive.com and enter the code espresso.

Laurie’s key phrase for talking with clients about pricing is “I think I have something for almost any budget, tell me a little bit about the meeting.” THEN SHUT UP!

She then puts together a 3 tiered proposal:

Basic (she does not want this one picked so she puts a deterrent in like “I can do this when I come through Dallas.”). This is the lowest price.

Deluxe- this is the package she wants.

Premium-Most expensive and a lot of work. She doesn’t want this one but would take it.

Many times the customer will choose the Deluxe with a bullet from the Premium that they want.

12 ways to close more business

Creative packaging and names- re-brand your talks to have fun, and use unique names that makes the client excited. Example – I want to see the Jalapeno Coming!

Invitation to sample/lead card – use a handout where they can fill in their info and get a handout – funny and attentive.

Boomerang language – if the customer describes what they are looking for in their own terms-use the same words. Examples- entertaining, fast paced, insightful.

Sweet spot pricing – Move them to the Deluxe package that fits your best program.

Guest encounter – Add in a bonus by utilizing a local NSA person you know to add value to the program-like a video.